—-

Kieran wasn’t too delighted with the fact these wolves were all normal. One of the reasons he moved so deep into the Fanged Forest was to encounter Elite monsters at the very least. Sadly, up until this very moment, all of the monsters Kieran observed were just Normal monsters.

Kieran desired Elite monsters because they rewarded more experience than Normal monsters and had higher chances of dropping equipment above the Uncommon grade. As one ascended the monster ranking spectrum, the chances of increasing better gear increase proportionally.

Granted, Boss monster drop rates eclipsed regular monsters, but they appeared in a relatively smaller volume.

Nevertheless, monster ranks played a significant role in determining how much Experience was rewarded to a player. Generally speaking, an Elite monster would reward at least 50% more Experience for the increase in difficulty. It was even typical for this number to increase under certain conditions.

‘If not for this quest, I would’ve just partied with Altair and annihilated this field. Tch, sometimes quests are just irritating,’ Kieran inwardly noted. Since there wasn’t much he could do, Kieran could only suck it up and deal with the enemies before him. At least, the considerable level difference would neutralize some of his complaints.

Kieran’s greatsword materialized as he immediately activated Warrior’s Aura. Any damage inflicted while using a heavy weapon would receive an 18% boost. Coupled with the fact Savage Break dealt severe damage, Kieran was impatient to test the effects of using these skills used in tandem.

Therefore, Kieran used Charge to shorten the distance between him and the nearest Fierce Wolf. It was too far to connect the stunning effect, but Kieran didn’t mind because it was only used as a utility vehicle. Afterward, he swung his greatsword downward.

BOOM…!

The violent aura of the Savage Break appeared around his weapon as a frightening noise echoed throughout the Fanged Forst. While the attack reduced the wolf’s defenses, resulting in more damage, the attack simultaneously triggered a Critical Hit!

-449! [Critical]

After factoring in all of the effects, including the monster’s defense value, Kieran’s one attack vaporized nearly 90% of the wolf’s health. Granted, beast-type monsters weren’t known for their defenses, so it was fairly easy to overcome their defense values as long as the attacker’s Attack Power sufficed.

Still, accomplishing this against a monster four levels higher than oneself was an admirable feat. The wolf was left in a weakened state after losing a tremendous amount of health in a short timeframe, so Kieran ended it with a simple thrust through its body.

〈System: You have gained 100 Experience. [Experience: 300/400]〉

The last three wolves, which disappointedly rewarded 50 Experience, only filled up his experience halfway before leaving. Now, Kieran received double the amount of experience for admittedly the same amount of work. The increased skill level essentially negated the extra health and defense.

Of course, the critical played a vital role as well since it was challenging to inflict. In Zenith Online, there were only two ways to achieve a critical hit. The first was through the blossoming hyper-reality aspect of the game, where the attack simply needed to overpower the opponent’s defense to the point where even their natural defenses couldn’t withstand it.

The alternative option was to increase one’s critical rate. If the maximum hit rate was reached, then one could virtually unleash a critical attack with every attack. However, they would only be basic critical attacks at best unless said player possessed absolutely monstrous attributes.

According to Kieran’s knowledge, despite it not being shown on the status screen, the base critical chance was 4%. That meant every attack had a four percent chance of inflicting critical damage. As for the modifier, its fundamental value was 150%.

“That’s the eighth one,” Kieran said to himself, noting his quest progress. He flung his arm, shaking the remnants of wolf blood off his weapon. Suddenly, he slashed his sword downward, leaving a massive gash on the back of the wolf that sprang towards him next.

-96

Kieran’s attack consumed nearly one-fifth of Feral Wolf’s health after factoring in its 30 Defense. Despite this matter, Kieran disposed of the monster with relative ease by incorporating the Warrior’s four fundamental skills―Upward Slash, Charge, Heavy Slash, and Thrust. Using these skills, Kieran unleashed a string of basic attacks in a fluid chain, depleting the wolf’s health bar in a matter of seconds.

As a result, Kieran leveled up.

〈System: You have gained 100 Experience.〉

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.3 → Lv.4]〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points and 2 Skill Points.〉

A small smile appeared across Kieran’s face as he looked towards the numerous wolves appearing from the trees in the distance. Although they numbered more than a dozen, Kieran didn’t mind.

Currently, his stamina was around four-fifths full, which was more than enough to deal with these foes as long as he didn’t perform any exaggerated movements.

As a result, Kieran added all accessible UAP in a way that maximized his solo efficiency.

〈System: You have used 4 Unassigned Attribute Points. [Strength: 26 → 30]〉

〈System: You have used 5 Unassigned Attribute Points. [Agility: 25 → 30]〉

〈System: You have used 5 Unassigned Attribute Points. [Control: 25 → 30]〉

Accordingly, Kieran’s Attack Power increased to 73, but despite the marginal increase and strength and speed, Kieran felt a palpable difference. Increasing his Strength, Agility, and Control in unison in a 1:1:1 ratio allowed the player to exude their physical prowess at maximum efficiency.

Allowing your Control to fall behind the other combat-oriented attributes would negatively impact a character in the long run. The wider the disparity in these stats, the harder one’s brain had to compensate when controlling the character’s action. Hence, a higher control factor lightened the mental load.

Of course, there were other hidden factors, but they couldn’t be addressed as of yet because this basic form of VR equipment couldn’t precipitate those effects. Kieran and anyone, in general, would need a higher synchronization rate to maximize their battle abilities. Therefore, he reckoned he could do no more than 2% of what he formerly could.

The Warrior’s Aura surrounding Kieran blazed with a fiery cerulean light while he took steps towards the encirclement of wolves encompassing him on all sides. In Kieran’s eyes, these wolves were a walking source of experience since he felt zero intimidation from them.

With minimal movements, Kieran interspersed the battle with his skills as soon as they came off their cooldowns. As a result, his Mana reached alarming levels. A significant amount of the drain originated from the Warrior’s Aura skill since it drained his Mana at a continual rate. It was the skill with the highest consumption in his arsenal.

When factoring in Savage Break’s cooldown, it only amounted to a fraction of Warrior’s Aura expenditure. Nevertheless, the trade-off was worth it because it empowered all sources of damage, basic attacks, and skills alike.

Seven more wolves fell in quick succession once Kieran became serious. After reaching Lv.4, the wolf’s experience had decreased from 100 to 90. Nevertheless, that was still good as another fleeting golden light coalesced around his body, symbolizing another level up.

〈System: You have leveled up! [Lv.4 → Lv.5]〉

〈System: You have received 5 Unassigned Attribute Points and 2 Skill Points.〉

At this point, Kieran only needed nine more kills before he finished the twenty-five monsters required to complete his quest. Less than half an hour had passed since arriving in the Fanged Forest, so his hunting rate was quite efficient. Most of his time was spent locating the monsters rather than fighting them.

The only issue now was that after reaching Lv.5, leveling up required more experience in comparison. Whereas reaching Lv.5 only required 600 Experience Points, reaching Lv.6 required 1,000!

Right now, Kieran’s progress towards Lv.6 was only 30 points! This led Kieran to question whether or not the remaining nine wolves would reward enough experience now that the level difference dipped yet again. Even if it didn’t, the quest rewards would make up for the decrease.

Once again, Kieran initiated combat with Charge, but he followed up with a Force Slash to knock the wolves into each other. Although the Savage Break skill targeted one opponent, that was only true for the Armor Break effect. As long as the opponents were overlapping, Kieran could manipulate a feature called collateral damage, which he did.

It was just the conditions were tricky for beginner characters since you needed to hit the monsters before they recovered or separated. Typically, that required a decent amount of Agility.

Kieran unleashed a powerful Savage Break right after knocking the Feral Wolves into one pile. Damage values nearing two hundred appeared in tandem, but Kieran ignored them. His attention remained locked on the wolves as he pummeled them to the ground with decisive attacks.

Finally, the battle finished with a collection of sharp fangs, furry pelts, and coins littering the ground. Kieran collected the coins and glanced at the current balance of coins displayed at the bottom of his inventory. Surprisingly, he collected 6 Silver Coins and 11 Copper ones.

The system automatically converted one hundred Copper into a Silver Coin to conserve space on the inventory bar. However, the currency type used could be determined by Kieran if he ever engaged in a transaction.

“Goddammit, finally,” Kieran exclaimed while storing his sword. At the end of the battle, Kieran only managed to accumulate 750 Experience Points, but that was more than enough in his eyes. After all, the quest reward was 500 Experience Points.

Therefore, Kieran slowly retraced his steps, returning to the area he sighted Altair. However, all signs of the Thief had vanished. ‘I suppose he either was on a quest of his own, or he’s already moved deeper into the forest. What a leveling fanatic.’

Suddenly, Kieran heard a few rustles nearby. Additionally, he also heard multiple conversations between more than one person. The first party confident enough to venture deeper into the Fanged Forest had appeared!

Kieran stood in place, undecided about how he should tackle this situation. It could unravel one of two ways, either they just passed by each other, or they were those who caused unneeded trouble.

Either way, Kieran simply wanted to turn in his quest while also reaping the benefits of reaching Lv.5.